to build a lose most sophisticated group which runs the league doesn't do the doing about anything tunes mission to teach creation why you should care about you and. this is why you should want your only on the old you don't go. as the arab spring of walls into new cars new constitutions for countries like tunisia and egypt the opposition in box rain struggles to find a foothold what makes this country different parties travel to the small gulf states to find out. and a u.s. military aircraft carrier is back in virginia after a time spent patrolling the waters in the middle east but what was the u.s.s. eisenhower doing during his time in the strait of hormuz and what is it capable of we take a deep dive into one of the world's most powerful ships. plus british mega bank

h.s.b.c. just settled with the u.s. government for alleged money laundering already the bank is back in court and the charge this time is predatory lending caused by a significant but caused a sniff an amount of loss of tax revenues for three georgia county do these counties have a fighting chance we'll question more. it's thursday december twenty seventh four pm in washington d.c. i'm meghan lopez and you're watching our team. well we begin this hour in bahrain a country that played a major role in the arab spring uprisings but one that was often overlooked in news coverage while the world watched egypt libya and others topple their dictators the people of bahrain had a different narrative to tell now to give you some background suffering as a small island nation off the coast of saudi arabia in the gulf it's been under the

rule of the all khalifa family for more than two hundred years the country is a major headquarters for the u.s. navy earning its leaders the support of both saudi arabia as well as the u.s. so while the u.s. government condemns the actions in syria many allege it's also sending arms to bahrain to quell the violence there r.t. international correspondent alexei euro cesky brings us the latest report from this embattled nation when it came to supporting calls for democracy in middle eastern north african states while denouncing government sponsored violence leaders of the west were vocally critical remarks about the has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave out of a very clear message for president the senate which is it is time for him to go but when scenes of violent clashes between riot police and reform complainer scame from bahrain the definition of democracy shifted and there was a suspiciously muted response in the summer the us state department came up with

a statement expressing its concerns over the human rights situation and alleged torture in bahrain this was only several months after washington had restarted weapons sales to this gulf state. dissenters in bahrain have been directing anger at their government for months but now stop arming the killers is a message they are more often sending out to the west somehow the in bahrain blood is was less and the libyan blood is more important. book critical than sayed youssif often travels to europe to direct a change into what he believes to be brutal repression in his country he and others like him have managed to alert human rights organizations but that's as far as it goes two months ago clinton made a statement about bahrain about the human rights situation in bahrain and. one protester was killed and show you that there is no in fact in the ground we are

a victim in bahrain because we live in our country they condemn the violence that committed by the bahraini government again that is for the protests that and behind but that is still continuing for decades bahrain has been one of washington's closest allies in the gulf its naval base houses the u.s. fifth fleet and six thousand troops the seemingly irreversible decision made decades ago despite the growing anti-american mood among some of bahrain's neighbors anything happens in the bush era plan or any of the other players that there are allegations of a nuclear weapon being built we are very close to all of those sites and we have to make the right decision in preventing any kind of catastrophe coming here we are all are not capable of doing that and that's why we turn to our friends and allies officials firmly deny that washington plays a decisive role in preventing any revolution happening in bahrain but even the bahraini government's information minister suggests the us main fact be playing

a double gang. i think the iranian opposition is a key ally of the u.s. leader of the opposition and the terrorist members of the opposition have close ties with foreign embassies in bahrain we can leak some of the old many documents proving it if this is true than washington sitting comfortably it can quickly switch sides but for now the opposition in bahrain is left to wonder as to why goals to support democracy from some are less worthy of attention than others like see russia ski r.t. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain. now similar to what's going on in syria somebody raney's are struggling to topple a leader who is desperate to keep control of the country as a result peaceful protesters are being hunted down arrested interrogated tortured and even murdered here now to look further into the conflict in bahrain as well as the international response is r.t. arabic correspondent rima dia every muscle let's start off by talking about what's

going on in bahrain and more importantly why are we not hearing about it a lot of the reason or the main reason why we're not hearing about what's going on in bahrain is because the media decides to ignore what's going on in bahrain and when i say the media it's not just the foreign media it's also a lot of the arab media as well what's going on in bahrain is basically another spring that people in that country thought that they were having just like other neighboring countries but for their dismay their coals did not reach any ears in the arab world and in the international. community and so far we there are a lot of process we see that on you tube we see that in blogs activists report on these. activities there but no one reports about these activities so let's talk about the differences between syria and behind on one hand the u.s. is condemning syria's president bashar al assad for what he is doing to his people

and trying to keep control of his country but on the other hand we have these human rights abuses that are happening up behind and the u.s. is ignoring it and possibly even arming the country's leader so what is with this this double standard when it comes to human rights a lot of people would tell you about the u.s. is actually talking to speaking out against the issue of the violations and beheading but if you look at what exactly they're saying it's not the same zone it's not the same accusations it's not it's it's completely different from what they would accuse the syrian regime of of what they're doing. people would tell you you know what because because the syrian regime is doing a lot well are you know far more damage to the cities to the people than what. a new regime is doing but this comparison is not really valid i mean the country is a lot smaller the kingdom is a lot smaller the book relation is not as big as the one in syria so you can't compare casualties in these two countries but it's

a strategic importance part of the arab world of the gulf countries to the u.s. and so far the u.s. thinks that by keeping silent maybe or not by or not accusing. the regime of what they're doing exactly they're basically helping through the stability in that region in that part of the world so i mean one thing that we have seen going against the syrian government we have had the strong us talk against bashar al assad we have seen them try to impose sanctions try to to to limit the violence to the country and to limit the power that bashar al assad has what are we seeing with bahrain is anything happening at this point of that other than talk. i mean there are people with the audio that there may be some some are trying to silence the human rights organizations who are trying to speak out against what's going on in bahrain no sanctions no talk of maybe sales of weapons through

a new regime none of that and actually the coals that the people are making the the cries that the people are making are not getting to any here in the u.s. or even any other foreign country a lot of people would decide it to just ignore what's going on in bahrain and again not just in the in the west but also in the arab countries a lot of people wouldn't even talk about what's going on in bahrain and we so what the some of the arab countries how they hope to have a new regime when the when the process started in that country they say. tubes to help. crush if you want to use that word the protesters they were so what happened in the. square in that country and no one talked about that so. the people simply decided to ignore what's going on and behave in a month maybe a lot of it has to do also with the fact that this was esther's in that part of the country or in that part of the reason our cia's and the regime is the knee and the

help that the regime is getting is getting from so many governments so let's the pas the conversation there i do want to talk about another thing that's happening in the region to one of the reasons that they say behind is so important is because of its strategic geo location basically meaning that they have access to a bunch of things that the u.s. kind of wants that's why the u.s. has its fleet there so we're going to go ahead and play a package by our story by our to correspondent liz wall so as i mentioned the headquarters in the u.s. is the headquarters of the u.s. their fifth navy fleet a fleet that is responsible for patrolling shipping lanes assisting with missions in iraq afghanistan and monitoring iran as the tensions grow now this map demonstrates the regional importance of the country it also shows the dominating american presence there normally the u.s. has two carriers patrolling the region one of those ships commission to the project

to protect american interests of course is the u.s.s. eisenhower a ship that recently returned home from a six month voyage and so we're going to hear r.t. correspondent liz wall she went to north fork for genya when the ship docked and she found out what this beast of the sea is capable of and where it's headed next. just in time for the holidays the u.s.s. eisenhower makes its way back from the middle east on board about five thousand sailors. ike as it's known as one of ten aircraft carriers the u.s. navy now has in commission a massive military ship has an estimated worth of four point five billion dollars over a thousand feet long i can carry eighty to ninety aircraft that includes planes and helicopters soon drones will be on board ike and other aircraft carriers like it before returning to its home base here in norfolk virginia the u.s.s. eisenhower was one of the largest instruments of power in the persian gulf as part

of the fifth fleet that was ready to respond in the event of an emergency in the middle east for six months the u.s.s. eisenhower was tasked with keeping the peace in the waters of the middle east we completed a six month deployment over the mediterranean your arabian gulf the indian ocean and we execute our mission to set the conditions for economic prosperity and maritime security part of that means patrolling the strait of hormuz a critical waterway through which twenty percent of the world's oil is shipped every day iran has threatened to close the strait in response to economic sanctions from the u.s. the sanctions are aimed at forcing iran to abandon its nuclear program eisenhower was there during a very tense period of time between you know iran and israel and we absolutely supported the fifth fleet mission presidents and strength and partnership with the regional gulf coalition with ike patrolling the persian gulf it serves to show the

power of u.s. naval force morning iran not to close the waterway but i think that it was very important that we were there during that important time as relations all the way up to the national level were very tense beyond iran i was also ready to respond in syria especially. as the country ramps up threats of using chemical weapons it also conducted missions in support of the us war in afghanistan we reassured our allies in the mediterranean in the arabian gulf and we did turn any of our adversaries that were out there for the next couple of months ike will be at its home base for maintenance but come late february and set to make the trek back to the persian gulf keeping a watchful eye on a troubled region of the world in norfolk virginia r.t. . let's bring our terabit correspondent back into the conversation here the remote so obviously this the u.s. has a huge interest in this region and that's to necessitate an entire fleet being stationed there why. well as you mentioned earlier this is

a geo strategic location for the u.s. not just the hay in the whole gulf area the location of that of those countries basically let the u.s. control that whole area this is where all the oil is from and this is. this is basically you can control the middle east from there it's close enough to iran close enough to syria close enough to many other parts of the world where the u.s. has a lot of interest there are so let me ask you this is the train really as strategically important given all the other countries that are around as the u.s. government would have to believe or are there other countries that are maybe as strategically important that the u.s. should maybe be taking an interest and i think the importance of one country over another is decided by what's going on on the ground in that particular time in that particular region i think all the countries in that part of the world are equally important to the u.s. really what happens or what decides which country is more important to us over another is just what's going on in that particular country or in

a neighboring country for that matter for instance by shane or saudi arabia became more important when things started to happen and behave behind is going to be more important for the us is there any things going on in saudi arabia or any of the neighboring arab countries the gulf countries in particular now remote we only have about a minute left i have to ask you this what about the relationship between the different monarchies what's happening i mean obviously they're watching one leader after another because the are they kind of coming together what's their relationship like well we so happen what a lot of analysts would tell you is that what they are standing up for each other they're helping each other out we saw what happened when protests started in morocco monarchies basically said dialogue is more important than anything else and they actually help that country to boost the economy help boost the economy of that country we saw what happened in my hand as well saudi arabia was willing to send troops to buy in to help. you know silence the opposition

there what's happening and what we see is happening right now is those monarchies are basically defending each other they did not stand up for. for instance mubarak in egypt while the whole time he was still supportive of all of the decisions they can by the arab league which were basically decisions that not much liked by the arab people so basically those monarchies are saying where is the power in the region where the stable regimes right now and we have to defend each other and that's what we see is happening very interesting conversation and definitely of the arab spring isn't over yet rym of who have r.t. arabic correspondent thank you for joining us. well it's hard to say i'm sorry even when the guilt rests firmly on your shoulders but the british bank h.s.b.c. has gotten pretty good at it lately after a string of money laundering allegations turned out to be true the bank

a global financial leader has a rap sheet that would send any average american to life behind bars without the possibility of parole just in the past couple of years h.s.b.c. has been working hand in hand with mexican drug cartels accepting and exchanging billions of dollars of blood drenched money and has conducted business with iran over truth the twenty five thousand transactions and counting that we know of and has also handled the finances for cuba syria libya and several other nations despite international sanctions against the countries what's more for years after the nine eleven terror attacks that took the lives of thousands including sixty seven brits h.s.b.c. had a partnership with the all raji bank it's a saudi bank that has ties to al qaeda and his part of osama bin laden so-called golden chain it also supported some of the nine eleven hijackers and most recently the bank is accused of predatory and discriminatory lending practices against minorities here in the united states but while the federal government might be

reluctant to punish mega banks like this three counties in georgia are fighting back actually suing the banks for allegedly costing them hundreds of millions of dollars in expenses and damages to their tax bases by aggressively signing minority borrowers to housing loans that the bank knew the people wouldn't be able to pay back it's a case that could set a precedent for how banks that engage in predatory lending will be dealt with in the future so to talk more about h.s.b.c.'s not so secret scheming i'm joined now by carl kasell kyle harrington founder and managing partner of harrington capital management hi there kyle so let's start off by talking about these counties in atlanta what are they suing for and what can really come out of all of this. well i think the following right any predatory or one tone approach to lending practices associated with individuals you know has to it cannot go without

punishment and i know that we're all responsible for reading our documents and and putting together our financial statements in a way and making sure we've read all of the footnotes as well as dotting all the i's and crossing the t.'s but if in any way there was a macchiavelli an approach or deceptive approach to these lending practices and these counties in atlanta then you know there is there is a case to make that this was done by the bank and let's face it you just outlined this h.s.b.c. has had a reputational. situation over the over the last few years with the mexican cartels and with this al-qaeda situation so it would not surprise me that the bank would go down this path and if in fact they did then these lawsuits have merit to them so kyle talk about these predatory lending practices how did they target minorities in these and stand says. well i mean you know they they can go to the minority

areas in the atlanta base and start wetting the appetite of these people with respect to loans that they would nor never really be able to get and maybe for the first two years these loans are below market interest rates but what they don't highlight is that in the third or fourth or fifth year megan the rate balloons up to a significantly higher rate that these individuals can no longer afford their mortgages or properties that they own and so therefore a foreclosure process happens and that costs these local state governments you know monies to foreclose on properties and go through the process of collecting the properties that they have loans against and the process and then you can see the the process just don't fold in a very negative way for everybody so i think they target them maybe because they think that they're not going to read you know the footnotes and look at all the paperwork with a very perceptive eye and as

a result they sign the paperwork and the loan goes through and then here we are two or three years later and they no longer can afford to pay the mortgages that they have on the properties that they own and i've also heard that the people that are borrowers that can afford to have these loans that this bank was actually driving them into even more expensive ones that they knew they wouldn't be able to pay off slummy ask you this why is the federal government letting bygones be bygones so now that it's up to localities that they have to fend for themselves. well i think that you know it's going to be on the states in particular where these loans were made but i think it's some point like i said i am one that believes in the responsibility of of one's own financial statement and balance you know that you do have to read the documents before you sign anything but i think the federal government's going to have to step in here and take a closer look at exactly any fraud or deceptive measures that have maybe taken

place here with respect to the banks in those specific counties now what we're also seeing with the as far as going with trading with iran and working deals with cuba and mexican drug cartels the bank has agreed to a settlement of one point nine billion dollars as retribution for working with these cartels example except that amount of money is being described as a historic amount i want you to listen to this and then i'll get your opinion one of the world's largest banks h.s.b.c. has agreed to make the biggest payment in history in a settlement over money laundering instead it's agreed to pay a record one point nine billion dollars fine to settle the case but today the bank agreed to pay a record amount to the united states government nearly two billion dollars does that excuse what they have done morally they've not financially they say and the feds here in this country and the department of justice say they are paying their dues so a historic payoff now one point nine billion dollars might seem like

a lot but in the grand scheme of things it's really not that much kyle i mean one point nine two billion dollars settlement is in response to sixty trillion dollars in monitor transactions so we did a little research of our own and we found out that this is how it would compare to an average american salary we found that this means they paid one point sixty one dollars sixty cents for every fifty thousand dollars that they turned their cheek on so that's more or less that's less than a slap on the rest of my writing. oh yeah big time i mean you know what that tells me meghan is the following that they're guilty that they know they've gotten their hand caught in the cookie jar and that they're willing to settle for an amount of money however it sounds egregious in nature like you highlighted for a bank to pay that amount but based on the amount that that might have been at risk or fraudulent amounts that seems as if you just highlighted it i mean you know a dollar sixty on fifty thousand is actually a lot less than

a little tiny slap on the wrist so my guess is that this is how they settled in an effort to avoid a very disastrous run on the bank and run on the stock now here's another question i have to ask and that romney the supreme court and others have said time and again that corporations are people but if that's the case why isn't this an aggravating corporation being punished like you or i would be and what happens like to me for instance if i did the things that h.s.b.c. has admitted to. you know and even in my business at harrington capital management you know we're dotting i's and crossing t's more than ever because of increased scrutiny in the regulatory environment and just did it really kind of it's disenchanting to see a major bank like this run into issues this major and not have a more heightened scrutiny or punishment level than they've already had and so it's disenchanting megane in a big way let me ask you very quickly we only have about fifteen seconds left but

if it was up to you how would you see h.s.b.c. punished well i think that there has to be fines levied against the bank that are much more egregious in nature and i want to make sure that the teeth will that we're at risk of being you know defrauded get paid back every single done that they that they put it risk and then some that would to me be you know a satisfactory result all right carl kyle harrington founder of the harrington capital management thank you so much for your time and your opinions are happy holidays me. well for weeks now we've heard of the looming fiscal cliff and what it can mean for our taxes and our military essentially the cliff is a mix of expiring budget and tax laws plus spending cuts that will go into effect if congress fails to act and yes economists agree that going over this proverbial fiscal cliff could very much launch the u.s. into a congressional mandated recession we know that americans are worried about their own finances but here's a story of how the threat of

a fiscal cliff is already affecting the county the country in unexpected ways deep budget cuts across the country have forced the hand of organ county jails which had to release thirty inmates because it couldn't afford to board them and here's the kicker according to the associated press less than an hour after one of these low level offenders walked out authorities say he was demanding a bank teller to hand over money he stuffed up the bank but the story doesn't end there because the steady reduction of federal subsidies there are because of these this federal reduction there are fewer big jail beds sheriff's patrols parole officers and specialized investigators and prosecutors are now tossing out more than a quarter of the cases that cross their desks simply because there aren't enough people to deal with them and it's not only organ dealing with this problem the mayor of providence rhode island said that the fiscal cliff could have a profound and a crony and cost consequence on her city since the automatic cuts would threaten

law enforcement patrols and training california is also cutting a budget and lowering prison populations so it looks like the fiscal cliff will inevitably have bigger impact on the u.s. than just taxes alone and for that inmate turned bank robber in oregon he remains in custody he has not been indicted of them on the most recent arrest he has not been asked to enter a plea and his next court date has not been scheduled meaning that in oregon anyway just because you do the crime doesn't mean you'll pay the time that is of course until congress settles down and starts taking this fiscal cliff seriously. and that's going to do it for now but for more on the stories we cover today go to youtube dot com slash r t america and for the latest on the stories we cover and a few we didn't have time to get to check out our website r.t. dot com slash usa and don't forget to follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez i want to know what stories you want us to cover so tweet me at my going to

score lopez i'll see you right back here at five pm capital is up next.

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